Week 16 Check-In: Being Persistent

What can I say ... it's the holidays. While I know I have gained weight this week, the good news is this semester of college is over as of a few days ago, and now I can concentrate more on weight loss.

Although this weight loss journey has been a rocky road, I've come to the realization that the number one important thing in losing weight is to be persistent. No matter what gets in your way, just consider it a bump in the road and roll over it ... move on, and get back on track.

There are so many things that challenge our sanity and weight loss -- a stressful job, the economy, a bitchy relative, a bill doctor bill, a heavy workload of classes, car trouble, food-filled holiday events, candy in the stockings, and poor health.

None of that matters. You have to put the bad things that happen in your life into a separate time and space, and stay mindful of your own health and happiness. Sure you might gain a few pounds now and then, but don't let it affect you and throw you off track. The only important thing is that you pick yourself up and get back to losing weight.

Here's a few profound statements about being persistent:

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins ... not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddah~

Success is a matter of hanging on when others let go

You will need to make many turns and overcome many obstacles

to create the path you desire.

Week 15 Check-In: Weight Loss Pictures of Me

Wow, I'm up to a 27 lb weight loss. For every 25 lbs, I'm going to have new pictures taken to show the progress. Below are images taken before (September 13, 2008) and after (December 14, 2008). They show the 8 inches I've lost on my body, the drop in a dress size, and how my clothes are getting too big.

Week 14 Check-In: Mindful Eating

It seems like I've been on this weight loss journey a long time, but in actuality it's only been 3-1/2 months. This week, I lost part of the weight I gained at Thanksgiving, but am still up 2 pounds from my lowest. The number is now 23 lb weight loss.

Have you ever heard of mindful meditation? I've taken classes in it before. According to Wikipedia, it's a concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions, and motivations. Being mindful means bringing one's awareness into the present moment, so you hear all the chatter that goes on in your head that averts your attention away.

With mindfulness you realize "thoughts are just thoughts" ... they are not reality and it's this realization that releases you from their hold. I think this concept can be applied to "mindful weight loss." Instead of mindlessly eating as fast as we can, while our mind spins off in another direction, we can concentrate and become aware of the food we are putting into our bodies.

This 3-1/2 month weight loss journey has allowed me to better observe of myself, thoughts, and habits about food. For the most part, I'm starting to mindfully move away from my feeding frenzy days.

Week 13 Check-In: Holidays and Our Food Addictions

This week I've decided to give myself a break. I did hit the magical 25 lb weight loss the day before Thanksgiving, but of course, I gained weight with the holiday. Instead of announcing my current weight, I'm going to give myself a week to get back on course.

I watched a television show last night that highlighted the plights of several people who are morbidly obese -- 500, 600, 700 lbs. You say that's not me, but it is because these people talk about being addicted to food. They are just an exaggerated form of us. They eat 10,000-30,000 calories a day, getting their fix every few hours by well-meaning family members who feed to the person's addiction by purchasing and preparing their food -- because these people are so large that they can't leave their rooms or cook for themselves.

We think we are in control of our food addictions, but we aren't, so it's important to know that we have to look at it like an alcoholic ... one day at a time. Only in our case, we can't give up eating completely like an alcoholic can, so we have to stay in control of our daily urges.

If you've fallen off the wagon during the Thanksgiving holiday, get back on. Re-recognize your motivation and personal respect, take care and love yourself, and get back to healthy eating.

Week 12 Check-In: Overcoming Roadblocks to Weight Loss

My total weight loss is now at 24 lbs, just one pound way from the magical 25 pound number. It's special because for each 25 lbs weight loss, I'm going to get a massage to reward myself and take new weight loss pictures to document my progress.

My topic of discussion this week is "staying the course." It seems that so many times in the past when I've tried to lose weight "stuff got in the way" -- a bad day, a bad week, problems at work, health issues, financial problems, or family issues. Besides stuff, time can also get in the way of losing weight -- lack of time to cook good meals, easy access to fast unhealthy foods you can grab in a rush, working overtime, and not enough time and energy to get my butt to a gym.

It's hard to overcome all these roadblocks to weight loss ... and easy to throw up the hands saying "the hell with it." Then you fall back into poor eating habits like buying a gallon of ice cream, splurging on a super-duper hamburger, eating spagetti with meatballs, or ordering pizza to be delivered to your home.

I've played those games before and the result has been years of being fat, unhealthy, and unable to live my life fully. I think the key to "staying the course" and conquering the road blocks is persistence. If you fail, immediately pick yourself up and get back on track. Do not let stuff control your life, take the reins and steer your own course.

Week 11 Check-In: Making It Through Personal or Holiday Events

Hi everyone, it's week 11 and unfortunately I gained 2 lbs, so my total weight loss stands at 21 lbs. What happened to me this week was a "potluck event."

I decided to go to a friend's potluck party and knew there would be lots of tempting food. In order to minimize my hunger, I ate before going. However, by the time I arrived at the party an hour later and I entered her house, I was met by a platter of blue chips and gucamole dip strategically placed near the front door. Guests would arrive and stand around the snack food while munching and talking, including me. It was down hill from there.

The dining room table was lined with mostly healthy foods like 8-types of green, bean, and rice salads, a few no-no pasta dishes, and a few desserts. But my problem was not "what I ate" ... it was that I just "ate too much."

Afterward, I was scared to get on the scale. Sure enough, the next day, I had gained 3 lbs. So, I spent the rest of the week trying to lose the extra weight.

I told my sob story to my trainer, and she gave me a few ideas for the next tempting event: whenever you feel the urge to take another helping of food, drink lots of water instead; don't sit near the food, place yourself so you don't see or smell it; engage in conversations with other people in order to keep your mind off the food; and if you are on the verge of commiting a food sin, go for a walk instead.

Here's more tips that I found on the Internet to help you make it through personal or holiday events:

• Going to a holiday party? Have one small plate of your favorites and enjoy every bite. Get in the habit of eating your meals slowly, stopping when you start to feel full and always leaving something on your plate.


• One way to stay motivated during the holidays is to set exercise targets, such as entering a 5K race right around Thanksgiving and then raising the stakes by entering a 10K sometime before New Year's.


• Have some of your old favorite foods if you really want them on Thanksgiving and Christmas. All you need to do is change how you eat them. In other words, just have a taste of them instead of a huge helping or two. Slender and fit people do not eat buffet size portions but they do indulge sometimes; they just don’t overeat. This option will only work if you choose to eat items that are not your trigger foods.


• When you plan ahead, you can predict and control your world. You can call your host and get a preview of the menu and decide ahead of time what you'll eat, who you will talk with, and how you will stay focused even during the party.


• Boosting your protein intake with lean meats, skinless poultry, low-fat dairy, seafood, and beans will keep you feeling satisfied longer. When you visit the buffet table, opt for these lean protein choices and complement them with high-fiber grains, fruits, and vegetables, which also help fill you up for relatively few calories.

Week 10 Check-In: Losing Weight No Matter What

I'm happy to report that the changes suggested by my trainer as talked about last week, really made a difference. I have now lost another 4 lbs, for a total of 23 lbs. It's amazing to me because it's the most weight I've lost in a long, long, long time.

Probably the biggest change I made this week was limiting the Weight Watcher snacks and switching to apples, pears, cheese, yogurt, and peanut butter. Besides my walking stairs daily during the work week, I'm now working out twice a week.

The trainer has me "building my core," saying everything comes off of having a strong core. So I'm doing wall pushups, situps on a large rubber ball, strength building on equipment, riding a stationary bike, and the elliptical machine.

I'm just a few pounds away from a 25 lb weight loss. I decided long ago to celebrate my losing weight by getting a massage at every quarter loss (25, 50, 75 and 100 lbs). I'm looking forward to that massage in the near future. Luckily, I received two gift certificates for massages, so I've been saving them for these special occasions.

I'll also be having new pictures taken of me to show the difference between my beginning weight and progress. I hope to post them soon.

I must admit it has been a struggle to stay on my weight loss journey -- I'm working a full-time job and taking 4 college classes each week, I write several publications, and the rest of my time is spent going homework. My slate is full, so it's really tough to also concentrate on losing weight.

We all make excuses why we can't lose weight: "I'm too busy," "I don't have time to exercise," "I have too many holiday events to attend." But, as I have shown during my 100 lb journey -- if you really want to lose it and get healthy, then you'll put in the effort NO MATTER WHAT.

Here's wishing you the stamina, heart, desire, and direction to conquer the "stuff" that gets in your way of losing weight.